Sorry this didn't go up yesterday as planned.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak at the Fall Retreat at the Tri-State Free Methodist Camp in East Liverpool, OH.
God through the Holy Spirit and the teaching of God's Word, saved me at this campground.God has continued using camps in my life and my family's lives. I am thankful for that.
However, in speaking this weekend I wanted to remind those there that camp is great but Church is better, which is something I wrote about HERE in 2016.
This is the 9-minute video on church membership in one of the posts.
Church Membership from Radical on Vimeo.
For both of the messages, I used a basic note sheet from the Sermon Notebook by Matthias Media. This is a great resource each person can use in their local churches (www.matthiasmedia.com/sermon-notebook).
We looked at two sayings in 1st Timothy that are "trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance."
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." (1:15)
"Godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." (4:8, 9)
Friday Night
We are saved...
from SIN (1 Timothy 1:15)
into A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (1 Timothy 3:14, 15)
into THE FAMILY OF GOD, THE CHURCH (1 Timothy 3:14, 15)
If God has saved you from your sin, by His grace, through Jesus Christ into the family of God
and God has saved other brothers and sisters in Christ from their sins, by His grace, through Jesus Christ into the family of God,
THEN we need to know how to live together.
Paul tells Timothy one of things Timothy and the church needs to be is PRAY (1 Timothy 2:1-15)
Here are some specific prayer items we need to be praying.
- Pray for leaders
- Pray for church leaders to lead in godly ways.
- Pray people would be saved.
- Pray your church would be unified in boldly preaching and living out Gospel truth.
- Pray other churches (Bible-teaching, non-heretical churches) in your community would boldly preach and live out Gospel truth.
- Pray individuals in your church would grow more and more like Christ. Pray for specific people.
- Pray NOT for personal desires BUT more so for the glory of God and the salvation and sanctification (spiritual growth) of men, women and children.
God,
Help us love your church and live for your glory.
Help us remember who we were before Christ.
Help us rejoice in who we are in Christ.
Help us value the church for which Christ died.
Help us value the part we play in the lives of our fellow Christians, especially those in the local churches we attend.
Help us value the part these people play in our growth and the growth of other Christians.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Saturday night
A hope-filled life...
looks to GOD (4:10)
doesn't FOCUS ON SELF (4:11-12)
is devoted to TEACHING/LIVING OUT THE BIBLE (4:13-16)
builds OTHERS UP IN THE FAITH (5:1-6:2a)
doesn't DESIRE THINGS OF THIS WORLD (6:2b-10)
fights THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH (6:11-19)
Before preaching I had been wondering if I should share some of our testimony in the message.
I am glad I did because several people came up to talk with us about difficulties they were going through and how they needed to reminded of the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
Additional Resources:
A great bookmark that serves as a reminder for church members/attenders on how to love their church on Sunday: library.thevineproject.com/#/resources/pray-think-speak-a-postcard-for-church-members
Book - Finding God in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Video - From Now On
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